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Chronicon (Jerome)

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The Chronicon (Chronicle) or Temporum liber (Book of Times) was a universal chronicle by Jerome written in Constantinople around the year 380. One of the earliest attempts of universal history; this is a Latin translation and expansion of the Greek chronological tables in the second part of the Chronicon of Eusebius, written about 50 years earlier. Despite numerous errors taken from Eusebius, and some of his own, Jerome produced a valuable work of universal history, if only for the example which it gave to such later chroniclers as Prosper of Aquitaine, Cassiodorus, and Victor of Tunnuna to continue his annals. In conformity with the Eusebius, Jerome dated Creation to 5200 BC.[1][2]

The Chronicle includes a chronology of the events of Greek mythology based on the work of Hellenistic scholars such as Apollodorus, Diodorus Siculus, and Eusebius.[3] While many of the earlier sections contain legendary characters and events that are not necessarily historically factual (the kings of Assyria, for example, are solely based on Greek legends), there may be scattered remnants of historical events of late Mycenean Greece from entries of the 12th century BC (See the historicity of the Iliad; Jerome's date for the capture of Troy of 1183 BC corresponds remarkably well with the destruction layer of Troy VIIa, the main candidate for the historical inspiration of legendary Troy, dated to c. 1190 BC). Homer himself is dated to 940 BC, while modern scholarship usually dates him after 800 BC.

The chronicle contains several regnal lists, including the rulers of Assyria, Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome. Each year in the table corresponds to a whole calendar year, meaning that years are counted inclusively. Eusebius attempted to synchronize every year with a regnal year; while the specific years do not always match reality, the overall chronology, specially closer to Eusebius' own time, is often accurate. Some of the discrepancies may be explained by the fact that several of the events were originally recorded in different calendars that do not always match perfectly with each other.[4]

Timeline

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From Adam until the 14th year and 6th consulate of Valens (AD 378), 5579 years; this places Creation in 5200 BC

From Creation to Abraham, 3184 years
  • From Adam to the Flood (2957 BC), 2242 years
  • From the Flood to Abraham (2016 BC), 942 years
  • From the reign of Ninus (2058 BC) to Abraham, 43 years
  • From the reign of Europs (2037 BC), the 2nd ruler of Sicyon, to Abraham, 22 years
  • In the times of Abraham, the Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt ruled for 190 years
From Abraham to the capture of Troy (26 Assyrian kings), 835 years
From the capture of Troy until the first Olympiad, 406 years.
From Ninus to Sardanapalus: 36 Assyrian kings in 1240 years (2060–820 BC)
From the first Olympiad, to the 14th year of Valens, 1155 years (776 BC–AD 378)
From the founding of Rome to the 14th year of Valens, 1131 years (753 BC–AD 378), 240 years under kings, 464 years under consuls, 427 years under caesars and augusti.[5]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Croke, Brian (1995). The Chronicle of Marcellinus: A translation with commentary. BRILL. pp. 53–55. ISBN 978-90-04-34463-1.
  2. ^ Mungello, D. E. (1988). Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 125–126. ISBN 978-0-8248-1219-5.
  3. ^ Pearse, Roger et al. (2005) The Chronicle of St. Jerome. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_00_eintro.htm
  4. ^ Burgess, Richard W.; Witakowski, Witold (1999). Studies in Eusebian and Post-Eusebian Chronography. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 21–43. ISBN 978-3-515-07530-5.
  5. ^ Some figures are corrupted; there were 244 years under kings (753–509 BC) and 260 years under consuls until the rise of Julius Caesar (508–48 BC), as recorded by Eusebius himself (Chronographia 110). There are exactly 427 years between 48 BC and 379 AD.
  6. ^ Eusebius had previously stated that Rome was founded in the 7th Olympiad (Chronographia 110), but this is somewhat changed in the Canons.

References

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  • Richard W. Burgess, Studies in Eusebian and post-Eusebian Chronography, Stuttgart (1999).
  • Malcolm Drew Donalson, A Translation of Jerome's Chronicon With Historical Commentary, Mellen University Press (1996). ISBN 0-7734-2258-7.
  • J. K. Fotheringham, The Bodleian Manuscript of Jerome's Version of the Chronicle of Eusebius Reproduced in Collotype. Oxford: Clarendon (1905)
  • J. K. Fotheringham, Eusebii Pamphili Chronici canones. London: Humphrey Milford (1923).
  • R. Helm, Eusebius Werke 7: Die Chronik des Hieronymus, Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Jahrhunderte 47 (1956).
  • Benoît Jean-Jean & Bertrand Lançon, Saint-Jérôme, Chronique : Continuation de la Chronique d'Eusèbe, années 326-378, Brest, (2004), ISBN 2-7535-0018-5.
  • Josef Karst, Eusebius Werke, 5. Band : Die Chronik aus dem Armenischen übersetzt. Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Jahrhunderte 20 (1911).
  • Alden A. Mosshammer, The Chronicle of Eusebius and the Greek Chronographic Tradition, Lewisburg/London (1979), ISBN 0-8387-1939-2.
  • Alfred Schoene, Eusebi Chronicorum Libri. 2 vols. Berlin: Weidmann (1875).
  • Robert Graves, The Greek Myths (1955), ISBN 0-14-017199-1
  • Alden A. Mosshammer, The Chronicle of Eusebius and Greek Chronographic Tradition, Bucknell University Press (1979), ISBN 0-8387-1939-2
  • J. C. Stobart, The Glory that Was Greece (1911), ISBN 0-283-48455-1
  • Michael Wood (1998), In Search of the Trojan War, ISBN 0-520-21599-0
  • Michael Wood (2005), In Search of Myths and Heroes http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/jason_01.shtml
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